Door latch



July 7, 1925.

J. WATTS DOOR LATCH Filed oct. 8, 1923 f 1 1 l n I l 1|* Vllffillf fllffflf! v.

Patented July 7, 1925. o

AUNITED STATES t 1,544,960 PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN WATTS, or WALSENBURG, COLORADO, AssmNOn or ONE-HALF To OTTO G.

. l KLEIN, or WALSENBURG, COLORADO.

DOOR LATCH.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN WATTS, a citizen of the United States residing at VValsenburg, in the county of I-Iuerfano and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Door Latches of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices for catoliing and securing a door in the closed position and while more particularly valuable for the doors of an vautomobile will also be found useful in many other applications.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a door latch which will act to relieve the hinges from supporting the entire weight of the door. This feature makes the invention particularly applicable for use on an automobile, since the door is sup-ported from both edges and is therefore relieved of the strains, incident to the movements of the car, which usually result in loosened and strained hinges and poorly fitting doors.

Another object is t-O provide a latch which will secure the door against movement regardless O-f whether it has been forced to the fully closed position.

Still another object resides in the provision of a latch which will make it impossible for the door or latch to rattle or vibrate even though the door may .not have been fully closed. l

A further object is to provide a latch which .willv force the .door Open the instant v*the latch catch is released and which will act as a shock absorber to bring the door to a gradual and IquietstOp.

A still further object is to' provide a latch which will make it impossible for the door to be left unlatched in the closed position.

Other objects and advantages resi-de in the det-ail construction of the invention which result in simplicity, economy and efficiency and which will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailedk description of the invention reference is had to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout th description.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a portion of a door and its jamb, partly broken away to show the interior construe.- tion thereof,

Fig. 3 is a similar View, not broken away vshowing the position of the tumbler when the door is Open.

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view of the door and )amb taken on the line 4 4, Fig. 1..

tLet the numeral 10 designate a door of the automobile type and the numeral 11 the jamb thereof. The latch mechanism is contained in a T shaped housing comprising a part 12, which is inset into the edge of the door, and a part 13, which lies flush with the door edge. A handle shaft 14 extends through the part 12 of the housing and carries, secured thereon, a bell crank levery 15 which extends horizontally into the part 13 of the housing and coacts with a pivoted tumbler 16. A spring 17 serves to hold the lever 15 lagainst the tumbler 16. y l

The lever 15 may be operated in any delsired manner depending upon the particular installation upon which it is to be used. In the drawing a handle 18'is secured to the handle shaft 14, by means of which the lever 15 may be operated from the Outside of the automobile. For operating the lever from the inside of the car, one leg of the lever 15 'is extended upwardthrough a slot 19 in the arcuate slot in theinner face' of the doorv where itis not ydesirable to have the handle 27 on the top of the door.

Thetumbler 16 is pivoted in the housing on a pin v2() upon which it revolves. The general shape of the tumbler 16 is an inverted V andv it is provided, on its upper edge, with an arcuate series of ratchet shaped notches 21, in which the lower edge of the extremity of the lever 15 is received.

The extremity of the lever 15 is beveled, as shown at 28 to act as a ratchet pawl in the notches 21. In the drawing three notches 21 are shown, one Afor the open position, one for the half closed position, and one for the fully closed position. The number of notches could be increased however, should it be desired to have a greater range of positions for latchng the 5.001. n

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A stud 22 is secured to the edge of the door janib 11 at the proper height to contact with the tumbler 16. A slot 23 is formed in tlie face of the housing 13 to admit of the passage of the stud 22 into contact with the. tumbler 16.

As the door is forced to the closed` position, the stud 22 travels into the slot 23, as shown in Fig. 3, -and contacts with a leg 24 of the tumbler 16 forcing it back against the action of a spring 25. As the leg 24 of the tumbler 1G travels inward the other leg 2G of the inverted V travels downward in the rear of the 'stud 22, and when the full line position of Fig. 2 has been reached, the lever 15 will snap into the middle one of the notches 21 and'lockthe tumbler from returning to its former-position.

Should the door be left in this position, it will vbe securely held from opening by the leg 26 of the tumbler 16, which will prevent the stud 22 from passing out of the slot 23. This position is what might be termed an emergency catch since its` only function is to securely latch the door even though it might have accidentally been only partially closed.

As the door is forced to the fully closed position thetumbler 16 will revolve to the dotted line position of Fig. 2, when the lever 15 will snap into the last notch 21 and securely lock the door closed.

When it is `desired to release the door, the lever 15 is raised from the. notches 21, by

any of the various handles, and the spring 25 will -revolve the' rocker 16 to the position of Fig. 3 and in doing so will force the door away from the stud 22. This is valuable feature for since the latch will force the door open the instant the tumbler is reinto the tumbler 16, it has no space in which yto vibrate and cause the latch to rattle. As lthe door is swung to the closed position, it must act against the sp1-ing 25 which acts 'as a shock absorber and brings the door to a gradual quiet stop.

The-terminus of the slot 23 would act as a final stop for the door.

While a specific form of the invention has been described and illustrated herein,

ydoor through said tum it is desii'edto be understood that the same may be varied, withinthe scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what said stud, said tumbler having notches in` its periphery; a spring acting to force said tumbler to the open position; a vertically movable lever engaging said notches andholding said tumbler in the closedv position and means for operating said lever.

2. A door latch comprising a stud adaptedA to be secui'ed to the door ]amb; a pivoted tumbler shaped to slide over the top of and around said stud when the door is closed and transmit the weight of said door -to said st ud, said tumbler having notches in its periphery; a spring acting to force said tumbler to the open position; a vertically movable lever engaging said notches and holding 'said tumbler in the closed position; a spring acting on said lever to hold same 1n said notchesand means for operating said lever. y

3. A door latch comprising astud adapt# ed to be secured to the door -amb; a. housing adapted to be secured to t e door; aslot in said housing to receive said stud; a tumbler pivoted in said housing above said slot, said tumbler bein shaped to slide-over the top of and aroun said stud when the door is closed and transmit the-weight of said door to said stud, said tumbler having ratchet teethin its periphery; a vertically movable pawl coacting with said ratchet teeth to hold said tumbler in the closed position; a 'spring acting to hold said tumler in the open position and means for rcleasing said pawl from said teeth.

4. A door latch comprising an inverted U-sliaped tumbler carried by a door and pivoted to rotate in a vertical plane and said stud fixed in the ja'inb of said door and arranged to pass under and into said U-i shaped tumbler and 'support the weight of a ler; notches formed in the top of said tumbler and a lever pivoted to operate in vertical plane normal to the plane of said tumbler, said lever being shaped at its one extremity to en age in said notches and provided at its ot er extremity with operating means.

In testimony whereof, I aiiix my signature.

JOHN WATTS. 

